AAN was pleased to present its very first Lifetime Achievement Award to altweekly industry veteran and respected AAN member of many years, Patty Calhoun, during the 2019 AAN Awards presentation at Hotel Boulderado.

Current AAN President, John Heaston of The Reader, says of the award:

As AAN prepared to return to its earliest roots for this year’s Annual Convention in Boulder, where the very first gathering of independent counter-cultural media happened in 1973, the AAN Board figured it was well past time to start recognizing those individuals who built and defined our industry, bending the arc of our history ever closer to one that is just for all. While there are many legends in this group, there is an even more select few that also shared their talents and time to build this association and help our members grow. 

Thus, the AAN Lifetime Achievement Award was created, and a preliminary process was set up with the Alternative News Foundation to recognize these individuals. 

It was unanimous that our inaugural awardee would be Patty Calhoun of Denver’s Westword, former AAN President, staple of AAN’s writers workshops and the embodiment of what an AAN paper can do in its community and in many instances, the country. 

AAN thanks Patty for her many years of leadership in this organization and this industry.